Anti-bullying musical comes to Hanover

Student playwright, 17, glad to see his work performed in hometown.

Zachary Terrazas, 17, sits at the electric piano, warming up the cast members of The Victim, on Friday night at the Gettysburg Community Theatre. The anti-bullying musical was written by Zachary, a student at Hanover High School.
(THE EVENING SUN KALANI GORDON )

A 17-year-old Hanover High School student wrote a few songs and some short scenes for a school project last October. More than a year later, Zachary Terrazas' small project is a full-fledged musical and will be performed at Hanover High School on Jan. 12 and 13.

After Zachary held workshop performances of his anti-bullying musical, "The Victim," in August at the Gettysburg Community Theater, he was given the opportunity to bring his work closer to home.

"I'm really excited about doing it in my hometown," he said.

"The Victim" shows the cycle of bullying through scenes and music written and co-directed by Zachary. His assistant director is Chad-Alan Carr from the Gettysburg Community Theatre, which is sponsoring the Hanover performances.

Josh Adams, 14, rehearses a song for The Victim Friday night at the Gettysburg Community Theatre.
(THE EVENING SUN KALANI GORDON )

Zachary said he hopes that his work will inspire the audience to stand up for people who are being bullied and to understand that their words have power.

"Think before you speak," he said. "Make sure you're not causing pain."

Although the message of the musical stayed the same, bringing "The Victim" to the stage in Hanover required a few changes to the production, Zachary said. The most significant change was adapting to the Hanover's bigger stage, twice the size of the one at the Gettysburg Community Theatre.

It seemed daunting at first, Zachary said, but the new space gave him an opportunity to play with lighting, sets and props.

"We're adding props that we couldn't even dream about in Gettysburg," he said.

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"It's becoming more of a production than it's ever been."

The Hanover High School stage also gives the actors more movement, or blocking, options. Not only is there more space, but the performers have individual microphones, which allows them to move freely. In Gettysburg, actors had to station themselves around one of several microphones that hung from the ceiling, which limited their movement, Zachary said.

He said that another big change was the adjustments that were made to the script.

Zachary Terrazas, a senior at Hanover High School, looks up from the electric piano while rehearsing one of the songs he wrote for the musical, The Victim at the Gettysburg Community Theatre last summer.
(THE EVENING SUN FILE BRETT BERWAGER )

Although Zachary liked the script he had over the summer, he knew he could make it better.

"It worked, but it wasn't up to a Broadway level," he said. "It wasn't what I wanted to see."

Zachary kept the songs and scenes that worked, and edited the ones that didn't flow. He also added two songs, several scenes and a few new twists. The result is the version that will be performed in Hanover

Although the performances at the high school are not work-in-progress shows like the ones in Gettysburg, Zachary said he will use them to see how he can continue to improve his production. Eventually, he said, he hopes to get "The Victim" produced outside of Pennsylvania so that students from other schools can hear the message.

"What we're trying to do is give as many opportunities for people to come see it, to get to watch it, to get a feel for what the musical is and the message behind it," Zachary said.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Pennsylvania Student Equality Coalition, an organization working to have state officials pass the Pennsylvania Safe School Act. According to the Pennsylvania Safe School Act website, the act would make Pennsylvania schools safer by addressing issues involving bullying, cyberbullying and harassment.

kpetiford@eveningsun.com; 717-637-3736, ext. 183; Twitter: @kpetiford

If you go

The anti-bullying musical, "The Victim" will be performed Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. and Jan. 13 at 2 p.m. at Hanover High School Auditorium, 401 Moul Ave. Tickets are $7 and can be purchased online in advance at www.gettysburgcommunitytheatre.org or by calling 717-334-2692. For more information on the musical, visit victimthemusical.weebly.com.